Concern as two primary one boys from Hamilton's Woodside Primary wander out of school

Parent calls for full probe after boys walk out of school

A furious mum has called for a full investigation after her son and his pal wandered out of a Hamilton primary without the school’s knowledge.

The angry parent claimed the school didn’t even know the children were missing – until she called them about it.

The mum says the boys, aged five and who are in different classes, would have been missing for around an hour before she alerted the school .

Now she is demanding tighter security at Woodside Primary after the primary one youngsters walked out of the school after Monday’s morning interval.

The school have apologised to the parent and launched an immediate investigation.

However the mum, who doesn’t want named, told the Advertiser: “I only found out what happened when I got a phone call from my sister to say that my wee boy and his friend were at her home.

“The boys walked through the school’s gates and along the main road to her house.

“What would have happened to them had they walked the other way? They could have ended up walking towards the nearby nature trail. I hate to think would could have happened to them.”

The drama unfolded when the boys turned up at the house of one of their aunt’s about 11.40am.

About half an hour later, the parent informed education authorities about the incident.

It’s understood the boys got locked out of the school building after going to the toilet during the morning interval.

The toilets are situated at another building within the school grounds.

They left the toilets and returned to the playground to find their class line had already gone in. But the youngsters couldn’t get back into the building because the front doors were locked.

They waited, thinking someone would let them in, but when no-one came to help, the boys decided to make their way to an aunt’s house to raise the alarm.

Woodside are using the old Neilsland Primary as a decant school while their new school is being built.

The mum added: “I called at 12.15pm and they were not aware the two boys were missing from the school. I think it is shocking the school didn’t realise the boys were missing from class until I called them.”

And the mum said it wasn’t the first time her son has been locked out of the school.

She said her son got locked out the school building about three months ago, but that time a school monitor came to her son’s rescue.

The mum went on: “I think they just want to sweep it under the carpet.

“I will be asking a lot of questions about this. I want to be given reassurance that this won’t happen again. I expect my children to be safe at school.”

Isobel MacDougall, head of education at the council, said: “We can confirm that two pupils did leave school at the end of the interval and made their way safely to a relative’s house nearby.

“This should not have happened and the school has moved swiftly to take steps to stop it happening again.

“This included an immediate investigation, including a review of risk assessment procedures.